1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system including an endoscope operation assisting device for facilitating operation of various types of treatment tools to be used together with an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used in the medical-application field. An endoscope comprises a slender insertion unit, and an operation unit provided at the base of this insertion unit. Generally, a bending portion which is bendable is provided at the tip side of the slender insertion unit. A knob for bending and operating the bending portion, and various types of switches and so forth for performing various types of operations of endoscope functions are provided in the operation unit.
With an endoscope to be employed for the medical-application field, when performing observation of a body cavity organ, an insertion unit is inserted into the body cavity of a subject. Also, with the endoscope, various types of treatment can be performed by introducing a treatment tool into the body cavity via a treatment-tool channel provided in the insertion unit.
In the event of inserting a treatment tool into the treatment-tool channel of the endoscope, a surgeon holds a sheath serving as the insertion unit of the treatment tool, and inserts the sheath into the treatment-tool channel manually. However, insertion work by hand feeding takes a lot of efforts. Also, it takes considerable attention to insert, for example, a sheath portion reaching 2 m without buckling, and preventing the sheath portion from coming into contact with an unclean area, which has been troublesome and intricate work for a worker.
In order to solve such a problem, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 57-190541 has disclosed an endoscope which enables the sheath of a treatment tool to be inserted into a treatment-tool channel mechanically.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-207 has disclosed an endoscope treatment-tool insertion/removal device which enables insertion operation of a treatment tool, and operation of a treatment portion to be performed mechanically based on operations of a foot switch.
Even in the event of using the above endoscope, and the above endoscope treatment-tool insertion/removal device, when performing treatment maneuvers by actually operating a treatment tool, the treatment portion is operated by a surgeon's operation at the side toward the surgeon. Accordingly, the results of treatment depend on a surgeon's maneuver skill. In other words, a huge gap is caused in maneuver skill between an inexperienced physician and an experienced physician.